I’m definitely part of the reason malls are dying. If I can help it, I purchase everything online. If I must shop for clothing in person, it’s typically the outlets, and I usually don’t venture much beyond J. Crew Factory.
Despite driving past it not infrequently, I didn’t even know there was a mall in Asheville until three years ago when I literally ran in and out of the Asheville Mall looking for somewhere that would fix a shattered phone screen—the man at the kiosk I inquired at saw that I had an Android, and addressed me with the same disdain my Androidphobic friends do whenever my allegedly-different-colored-texts destroys their group chats, giving me a curt, “we don’t fix those here. When I asked if he knew where to fix a lowly Android, he suggested I “Google it.” Since I couldn’t Google it because of the aforementioned shattered screen, I ran home, Googled it there, and found a phone repair shop in South Asheville that valued inclusivity and a man willing to pay $50.00 extra to skip the line and get his phone fixed that second.
I hadn’t given the Asheville Mall much thought since, but then, yesterday, the call of a too-good-to-miss Instagram ad beckoned: solid-colored, 60% cotton, tagless, tank tops, lovingly crafted in Bangladesh for just $6.00 a pop from good old Old Navy. I could’ve just ordered one of each color from my phone (which, admittedly, has a screen that is going to fully shatter again any day now), but I’m still a growing boy and not exactly sure whether I’ve transitioned from an L to an XL at Old Navy these days, and know myself enough to know that if I do order things online that don’t fit, the chances of me returning them are slim to none. So, I decided to head on over to the mall on my lunch break to do some trying on, and hopefully purchasing.
Now, because I live in Asheville, it’s important you know that I’m anti-fast fashion and do my best to be a more sustainable shopper—lately I have been doing the bulk of my shopping via thrifting or EBay (if L.L. Bean or J. Crew are considered fast fashion, no one tell me)—but also because I live in Asheville, you probably should know I’m something of a performatively progressive hypocrite who will absolutely prioritize a good deal over the environment.
I’ve read enough think pieces about dying malls to expect relative bleakness, but I don’t know that I was prepared for just how bleak it would be. It wasn’t like, abandoned and full of vagrants, like the mall in Gone Girl, but that might’ve been less bleak because it was presented as is: an abandoned mall full of vagrants. The Asheville Mall is essentially abandoned, but it’s still well lit and pumped full of muzak. For real though, I didn’t see a single person in the atrium I entered, and the stores I passed on the way to Old Navy—a Journey’s and Eddie Bauer, I believe—were similarly empty, and could’ve been simulations for all I know. It wasn’t full-on creepy, but something felt amiss. It didn’t make me excited for Old Navy.
In a clever misdirect on the Asheville Mall’s part, Old Navy was jumping. There was a healthy line at the register. When I walked in, an overly perky salesperson greeted me by asking if my “day was awesome” or not (I’d love to learn if an Old Navy to Trader Joe’s pipeline exists in any capacity). Piles of solid, colored, pleasing-feeling tank tops, made of a poly-cotton blend under what I feel confident was probably some kind of duress in Bangladesh, beckoned to me for the advertised $6.00 a pop. In an unexpected twist, I remain size L! I purchased three. I also got a chocolate-brown cardigan reminiscent of one I owned in the mid-aughts for $8.50 that was also manufactured in Bangladesh, but get this, 100% cotton and machine washable. I’ve already worn it once at home. It’s exceedingly comfortable.
Also comfortable? When I walked into Old Navy, Avril Lavigne’s second-best song, Sk8ter Boi, was playing. This felt right, simpler, and ironically, like a throwback to a less…complicated era. I almost felt home. Still, I hope it’s at least another three years before I’m beckoned into the Asheville Mall again.
AshevilleExplorer 